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New
Genetic Resources Policy Committee (GRPC) Meets at IPGRI
The new Genetic Resources Policy Committee (GRPC) met
at IPGRI during February 16-18, 2004. The members are:
Carlos Correa (Chairman, University of Buenos Aires)
Bernard Le Buanec (Private sector, International
Seed Federation)
Ronald Cantrell (CGIAR Center representative, IRRI)
Benchaphun Shinawatra Ekasingh (Committee of
Board Chairs, IPGRI Board of Trustees)
José Esquinas-Alcázar (FAO Observer)
Emile Frison (CGIAR Center representative, IPGRI)
Michael Gale (CGIAR Science Council)
Leonardo Montemayor (Farmers organizations,
Federation of Free Farmers of the Philippines)
Juan Lucas Restrepo (CGIAR Member, Colombia)
Maria José Sampaio (NARS, Embrapa-Brazil)
Anil Subedi (NGO, Intermediate Technology
Development Group)
Carl-Gustaf Thornstrom (CGIAR Member-Sweden)
Back row (left to right): Messrs. Subedi, Frison,
Restrepo, Fowler, Thornstrom, Gale and Halewood; front
row: Mmes/Messrs. Henson-Apollonio, Ekasingh, Le Buanec,
Correa, Sampaio, Esquinas-Al-azar; Cantrell and Montemayor
are not in picture.
"We were delighted to host the meeting,"
said Emile Frison, Director General, IPGRI and GRPC
Secretary. "The Committee got off to an excellent
start with a fresh mandate to ensure that CGIAR's
public goods focus on plant genetic resources research
and conservation is sustained."
The full agenda for the meeting covered a wide range
of subjects, including issues to be addressed by the
CGIAR in implementing the International Treaty on
Plant Genetic
Resources for Food and Agriculture; overview of developments
at Convention on Biological Diversity and World Intellectual
Property Organization; progress toward establishing
the Global Crop Diversity Trust; discussion of CGIAR
guiding principles for genetically engineered crops
developed by the CGIAR Center Directors Committee
(CDC), and reviving the idea of creating a long-term,
safety back-up collection of plant genetic resources
in Svalbard, Norway. A GRPC work plan for the next
three years was developed. The plan includes reviewing
and endorsing documents associated with the development
of system-wide Material Transfer Agreements for Center-improved
materials (to ensure the extension of the International
Treaty's benefit-sharing provisions to those materials);
and requesting a study on the work of the Centers
that contribute to the implementation of benefit-sharing
under the International Treaty, with special emphases
on Center technology transfers and contributions to
the
realization of farmers' rights.
An external review renewed GRPC's mandate in 2003.
For more information, www.ipgri.org
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